Surging daily use of K PLUS SHOP by 80 percent, in line with thriving online shopping

KASIKORNBANK (KBank)'s digital leadership in the merchant category is affirmed by the highest number of K PLUS SHOP users. Daily funds receipts rose more than 80 percent over last yearend. KBank is fully supportive of online shopping via networking with logistics partners and aims to have 2 million users of the app by the end of 2018.

KBank President, Mr. Patchara Samalapa, said Thailand's path toward a cashless society has a more promising outlook. As evidence, daily funds receipts of merchants via K PLUS SHOP application rose 80 percent over the end of 2017, affirming that consumers are now making more QR code payments, in place of cash payments. Currently, the number of merchants using K PLUS SHOP makes up the largest share in the market, with 1.3 million downloads, 2.5 million transaction number and THB3.668 billion transaction value in 2018.

An ETDA survey reveals that online shopping was one of the five most popular activities of internet users in 2016, when B2C e-commerce in Thailand rose 37.9 percent over 2015. This sector is expected to grow further. The uptrend is consistent with this year's record of transactions via K PLUS SHOP for merchants across Thailand, wherein online funds receipts grew 30 percent over the end of last year.

Currently, 53 percent of social media, such as Line and Facebook Messenger, are used for online chat and sending receipts as part of the retail online business. Making payments via such channels requires buyers to go through many steps, memorize 10-digit account numbers and look at many screens on their mobile phones, which make it relatively inconvenient for them. Sellers, on the other hand, are at risk of receiving fake bill payment slips and may have to waste their time in checking information of the buyers. Due to such problems, KBank has developed a new Social Payment feature on K PLUS SHOP app that can simply summarize money transfer transactions or send QR Code as receipts to buyers instead of account numbers. This makes it more convenient for buyers to use only such the QR Code to make payments via K PLUS and the sellers will automatically be notified of buyers' payment status.

Another feature of K PLUS SHOP app that is sought after by merchants is stamp accumulation because it will enable SMEs to conduct marketing activities in order to induce buyers to repeat purchase and allow them to reach another eight million K PLUS users, thus helping bolster the competitiveness of merchants.

The consumer behavioral trend shows a remarkable increase of QR code payments. Working with well-known brands, namely, Major Cineplex, Love Andaman ferry pier, After You, Tong Tem Toh, Chak Ki and Khao Tom Jae Oh to stimulate digital payments, KBank has found that QR code payments at some of these stores accounted for 30 percent of their total sales.

Mr. Patchara summed up that to make K PLUS SHOP the best app for business, in addition to developing features to cater to customers' needs, KBank has connected with our partners to improve their business management. By the end of May, KBank will link up with our logistics partners to enhance and speed up online delivery process within one click. Additionally, KBank targets to increase the number of merchants using K PLUS SHOP app to 2 million by the end of this year.

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